In The Rain
by lovering
Summary: Leah goes for a run in a storm after things get to be too much. Will anyone be able to calm her down enough to see that people don't want her to go away? Rated T for language.


**A/N: So not what I originally planned for this oneshot. (Something about Jacob adoring rain, Leah not so much, and Jacob getting Leah to see how much fun it actually was. You know, cheesy.)**

**Anyway, enjoy, review, everything, you know the drill.**

**Disclaimer: No, Sadly enough, only Stephenie Meyer owns the Twilight Saga.**

Leah Clearwater sighed heavily in annoyance for the fifth time in two minutes. Her brother Seth glanced at her from his seat on the couch and rolled his eyes.

"Drama queen," he grumbled softly, shuffling his deck of cards.

A surge of anger coursed through Leah's body. "What'd you say?"she snarled.

Then she immediately felt bad. She didn't mean to snap at her baby brother, it was just that she hated thunderstorms. (What she was still doing in La Push, she didn't know. Oh right. She was beta of the wolf pack. The only wolf pack in La Push, since Jacob Black finally beat out Sam Uley. Took him long enough too.)

Seth looked at her warily. "I'm just gonna go upstairs now."

Leah's mouth twitched upwards at the corners. He knew how she got on really stormy days, when the rain just poured down and didn't stop for three days straight, and the sky was that depressing shade of gray/black. He knew not to even pay attention to it anymore.

Leah flopped down on the sofa after Seth left. It was one of _those _days. Would've been even if it wasn't raining. Thoughts of Sam, the love she had lost to her cousin/best friend/_sister_ because the ass imprinted on Emily like some sort of fucking _duckling_, raced through her head.

Thoughts of herself, her body, how she could never have kids. What, didn't she deserve them? Thoughts of her being the only female werewolf _ever. _Thoughts of how much that sucked ass. Thoughts of how fate loved, no, _adored_, screwing her over.

_Why _did Sam have to imprint on Emily? _Why _did she have to lose the one man that ever meant anything to her? _Why _couldn't she have stopped Sam from permanently scarring her beautiful cousin whom she still loved _so _much? _Why _did she have to be in the prime of her life, live practically forever, and know she was always going be unable to have kids?

_Why _did everything she had ever worked for in her normal life-her popularity, her perfect boyfriend, her _hair_, her gorgeously long, long hair-why did it happen to her? Why did fate or destiny or whatshit hate her so much? Why couldn't it have happened to someone, anyone, but her?

She was trembling, she realized with surprise. Suddenly the house was too small. Leah sprinted outside, tore off her clothes and attached them to her ankle. Then she phased.

She normally felt mostly indifferent to the experience, but today she reveled in the sensation of becoming more powerful than a human could ever hope to be. Too soon, she was all wolf. Throwing her head back, Leah let out a long, chilling howl that contained all of her rage, all of her anger, her self-pity, her self-loathing, most of all, the promise that if anyone came close to her today, she would rip them limb from limb, make them beg for mercy and kill them anyway.

She knew all of La Push heard it, but she didn't give a damn. The pack might (_maybe_) act worried, but they didn't care. Not really. Who would give a damn about the "bitter harpy"? The Council might hear, but they could all go screw themselves. If some girl heard, the girl who could have been Leah, then_ let_ her be terrified.

Fur plastered to her body thanks to the raging storm, she ran into the forest. She bounded over protruding tree roots, never breaking stride, flew over fallen logs, didn't care (or maybe didn't feel) the branches scratching her.

Leah just ran. No destination in mind, no goal to fulfill except to feel her muscles moving in synch, the forest floor beneath her and the rain coming down in sheets, making it hard to see more than four feet ahead.

Thunder rumbled and lightning lit up the sky overhead and the forest was all around her, below her, above her, and for the first time since Sam and Emily, since her father's death, since becoming the only female wolf ever, for the quickest second...she felt whole.

Then Jacob Black came into her thoughts and ruined everything.

_Leah?_

_ Get the fuck out of my head, kid!_ She snarled mentally, running even faster, if that was possible. _Phase back, _now_!_

_ We're worried about you, Lee. _Jacob replied, ignoring her.As much as it killed her to admit it, he sounded sincere and genuinely concerned.

_Of course I mean it!_ Jacob exclaimed. Oh right. He could read her mind. _Where are you? Leah?_

Leah gritted her teeth as overwhelming feelings swept over her. It had been so long since someone had thought her name with such concern, and suddenly all the fight drained out of her. Weariness seeped into her bones.

She shook herself. No! This wasn't what she wanted. Maybe fate, destiny, luck, all hated her, but by everything she believed in, Leah would rather kill _herself_ than lie down and give up.

She was Leah Clearwater. She was a bitch. She was powerful. She was independent. She was dangerous. It was for these exact reasons she didn't need anyone. And she wouldn't. Ever. Panting heavily, she forced herself to calm down, not noticing the rain as it streamed down her fur over her motionless body.

"It's OK to want people to confirm they care about you, Lee."

Her head snapped up and she automatically shifted into attack mode, teeth bared, low growl coming from the back of her throat. The only reason the speaker wasn't bleeding to (a very painful) death right now, was because she was very much a wolf and her Alpha was somewhat exalted in her eyes.

_ Shut up!_ Leah growled, shaking a bit of wet fur from her eyes. Then, realizing Jake couldn't understand her when she was a wolf and he was a human, she stalked off behind a tree to phase back. As she pulled on her wet, muddy clothes, she debated ways to tear into the annoying-ass kid who came after her after she gave very expressly told all the wolves not to.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Leah shouted, coming out from behind the tree, pure fury emanating from every inch of her body. "Why would you be stupid enough to follow me?"

Jacob didn't answer, just stared calmly at her. She growled a warning deep in her throat.

"Don't phase. I'm willing to bet that's the only shirt you brought." He was speaking softly, and he was two or three feet away but Leah heard him anyway, thanks to her accursed super-sensitive hearing. "Leah?"

She didn't growl outwardly this time. Again with the goddamn concern. Leaning against a tree that provided a bit of shelter from the pounding rain, she allowed herself to slide down, the rough bark scratching her back, until she was sitting on the muddy forest floor.

Leah and Jacob stayed where they were for a good ten seconds, because Jake never was patient. He walked slowly towards her, as if he was afraid she would run away. Maybe she would have, if the run hadn't tired her out so much. He sat beside her, not touching, but close.

The forest was unfamiliar here, Leah noted. She had run farther than she thought.

What was Jake doing here?

Who cared?

Still, he shouldn't be so far away from his pack.

After an eternity (or perhaps half an hour, who knows), he spoke up. "I care about you, Lee. Seth cares about you. Your mother cares about you. And, you know this is true, Emily loves you still."

He might have been about to say more, but Leah couldn't hear anything over the current of hot fury blazing through her.

"Loves me _still?_ She loves me _still?_ What did I do? Huh, Jake? What the fuck did I do? _She _was the one who fell in love with my boyfriend, and only because _he _went and fuckingimprinted on her like a 6'5" baby duck!" Leah was standing now, spitting curses down at him. "What did I ever _do_?" she half sobbed.

Quicker than she thought was possible for even him, she was wrapped up in his arms and she was punching him and kicking him but he was like stone, he didn't move and she couldn't break free. Soon the tears were flowing freely and her kicks were getting weaker but she was still pounding at his ribcage, demanding she be let go, she didn't need him, she didn't need anyone.

"Fuck you," she sobbed finally, going limp. "Fuck you, Jacob Black."

Now he started talking, whispering things too low for even her to hear through the tears and wind and rain. His arms tightened around her and she accepted she had lost this battle.

So she stayed where she was, with the rain pouring over the two of them mercilessly and the wind howling and the branched waving violently and thunder rumbling and lighting flashing through the dark, dark clouds.

It's not as if they both weren't exhausted from running this far into the forest. It's not as if the world would end if the Alpha and Beta of the La Push pack weren't there for one miserable day.

So she stayed where she was.


End file.
